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The Marvels
by Brian Selznick

Writer/illustrator Brian Selznick’s latest book is The Marvels and it is marvelous! It begins with an illustrated story of a ship at sea in 1766 with Billy Marvel. Once on land, the story continues down through the generations of the Marvels, a theater family. Interwoven with this tale is another story, told in words, of Joseph Jervis, who has run away from his boarding school. If you’ve read Selznick’s previous books, The Invention of Hugo Cabret  and Wonderstruck, you won’t want to miss this latest book. If you’re new to Selznick, you’re in for a treat! The Marvels will be released September 15th and may be pre-ordered at the store.

See Brian Selznick's cool trailer for the book.

Look Both Ways in the Barrio Blanco
Judith Robbins Rose

What if characters like Junie B Jones and Ramona Quimby had been Mexican-American girls with concerns about immigration, culture, and language? That’s the flavor of Look Both Ways in the Barrio Blanco. When pre-teen Jacinta cleverly arranges a mentor/mentee pairing with a white TV news reporter, she initially thinks she’s hit the attention jackpot. It’s not an unreasonable thing for a girl like Jacinta to do—Jacinta is a middle child, old enough to be expected to care for younger family members, and not old enough to wield the power of the oldest. Jacinta’s mother is out of the country, caring for Jacinta’s grandmother in Mexico and Jacinta’s father, having to support his family alone while his wife is gone, is hardly home. Between time spent with a wealthy, famous white woman (or so it appears to Jacinta), time living in a wealthy country as an immigrant, and time spent in Mexico, Jacinta gets a new perspective on wealth, race, and culture. All the while, Jacinta is still a kid who wants what her peers want – attention. At times, Jacinta gets it in amusing if inappropriate ways. I found myself laughing at some moments and longing to reach through the pages and hold Jacinta tight at others. The beauty of this book is the accessibility to middle grade readers (though I encourage anyone to read it!). The author tackles some very real, hot-button issues in this book without it feeling like it’s an “issues book.” The narration is charming, Jacinta is funny, and there’s  much depth to this book. I highly recommend it as a classroom read or read-aloud at home. I plan to press it into the hands of lots of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents looking for a great book to read with the kid(s) in their life over their week stay vacation at the cabin.

The Thing About Jellyfish
by Ali Benjamin

This middle grade book would be a great choice for adult book groups! Suzy befriends Franny in elementary school and the two become best friends, but once puberty hits their friendship begins to change and then unravel. By the time Franny drowns, the two aren’t really friends anymore. Rather than face the griefs [plural intended] that surrounded Franny, Suzy focuses on the possibility that Franny was killed by a jellyfish sting. Suzy, drawn to science, does all kinds of research on jellyfish and seeks out experts, including swimmer Diana Nyad, for help. Sometimes Suzy makes bad decisions, like any of us, but is one of the most sympathetic characters I’ve come across. As an outsider, we can see that the dissolving friendship between Suzy and Franny isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault and yet, my heart ached for Suzy. There’s a lot of depth to this book and it has the potential to spark wonderful discussion. This book will be out September 22 and may be pre-ordered.

Zeroes
by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti

These authors have teamed up to write a fabulous book called Zeroes, the first in a series by the same name. “Zeroes” refers to a group of kids born in 2000 with certain super-powerish powers. These are not your typical powers however, and most of these kids need a crowd in order to access their powers. The powers include invisibility (to the point that others forget this kid exists), the ability to crash technology, the ability to control the mood of crowds, a voice that always knows the perfect thing to say to obtain the wanted result (unless there is nothing to say that will get that result), leadership, and sight through other’s eyes. The brilliance of this book is that it’s somewhat familiar—the idea of humans with special powers is not new, and that’s coupled with some new and different powers. The personalities of the kids in this book are so appealing. Readers will identify with pieces of each character. The adventure they undertake is a great balance between almost-believable and a great fantasy. I look forward to the rest of the series! The book releases September 29 and may be preordered.